Club Faces Scrutiny As Police Seek Clues In Fatal Brawl

Investigators say it began as a quarrel outside a popular Oakland Park nightclub, where off-duty police patrol the parking lot and attendants screen who gets in.

It ended with a melee in a gas station parking lot a mile away, which left a Lake Worth man dead from a gunshot wound and seven others injured. On Monday, two men were charged with open counts of murder, but residents and city officials were still searching for answers.

People who live near the Baja Beach Club, at 3339 N. Federal Highway, complained that on weekends the nightspot draws unruly, noisy crowds. And Oakland Park's mayor vowed to address the issue at Wednesday's commission meeting -- even though she said she knows of no major problems there.

Still, some neighbors say that the club is a nuisance, on weekends attracting nearly 1,000 young people who leave the club en masse in the wee hours of the morning, blaring music, tossing beer bottles, arguing and swearing.

Closing time is like "a football stadium letting out at 3 a.m.," said one nearby resident who asked not to be identified.

"It's like a riot waiting for someplace to happen," said resident Isabella McNeely.

Shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday, an argument that police say began in the club's parking lot moved to Zane's Dixie Mobil gas station, 3101 N. Dixie Highway, where Wilmer Ernesto Hernandez, 24, of Lake Worth, was shot in the chest. Three more people were shot and four others stabbed in the fight. Hernandez's body was later found in the back seat of a Toyota convertible at the nearby Mattress Giant store, 617 E. Oakland Park Blvd.

On Monday, two individuals involved in the fracas, Salvador Osegueda, 22, of Hollywood, and Fabian Henao, 21, of North Miami, were charged with open counts of murder, Broward Sheriff's Office spokesman Kirk Englehardt said. After interviewing at least 21 people at the scene of the fight, investigators think that Osegueda and Henao fired into the crowd. Osegueda, who was still hospitalized Monday with stab wounds, was also charged with cocaine and marijuana possession.

Englehardt downplayed the club's role in the incident, noting the violence did not take place on club property. "Any time you have a crowd of people and tempers flaring and egos involved, you can have problems. It could have happened practically anyplace, even the supermarket."

Nonetheless, the incident has focused an unwelcome spotlight on the club, which hosts wet T-shirt contests and serves free drinks on Saturdays.

Angel Atallah, Osegueda's Hollywood housemate and the aunt of his girlfriend, disputed police accounts of Sunday's brawl, saying it did not begin at the Baja club. Atallah said it occurred at the gas station when Hernandez accosted Osegueda's friend and attempted to rob Osegueda of his gold necklace and watch. Attallah said Hernandez, before being shot, stabbed Osegueda and several others.

"It is a self-defense case," she said. "This is not a murder case."

Seven people were injured in the confrontation. Three of them were being treated for gunshot wounds at Broward General Medical Center: Carlos Salmeron 19, of Lake Worth, who was in the intensive care unit recovering from gunshot wounds; Lorenzo Salmeron, 21, of Lake Worth, and Walfre Escobar, 22, of North Miami, both of whom were in fair condition.

In addition to Osegueda, three other people were hospitalized with stab wounds. Angel Moran, 21, and Julio Moran, 23, both of Hollywood, were being treated at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. The fourth, Martin Mendez, 24, was treated and released from JFK Medical Center in Atlantis.

At least two involved in the fight have criminal records. Mendez was charged with resisting an officer with violence in 2000, but the disposition was unclear. Hernandez pleaded guilty to auto theft in 1996 and pleaded no contest to driving with a suspended license in 1997, according to online court records.

Oakland Park Mayor Caryl Stevens said the city has had several noise complaints about the club, but nothing as serious as Sunday's event.

"Whatever problems, like crowd control and space for all the people, should be under control there," she said. The club contracts with the Sheriff's Office for eight deputies to provide off-duty security outside the club any night. The argument that began in Baja's parking lot at first did not seem so serious it required sheriff's deputies to break it up, Englehardt said.

Residents describe being awakened by loud music from car stereos and discovering people urinating in their bushes. They say they find condoms in their yards, half-empty bottles of beer and other litter.

"Something has to be done," McNeely said. "It's ruining this lovely neighborhood."